2008 Field Hockey Blog - Week 1

by Mimi Henry - September 12, 2008

Tomorrow’s game against Simmons College marks the official opening of our season. It’s hard to believe that almost three weeks have gone by since the start of preseason—we certainly packed a lot in. I’d like to share a couple highlights from the last few weeks, the first being our trip to Springfield College’s East Campus, where the team participated in the Low Elements Challenge Course. We were led through a series of team-building exercises, including a trust walk during which our captains, Annie and Katie, guided the entire blindfolded team through the woods. Our greatest challenge was the cable course in which the entire team had to safely maneuver from tree to tree while walking across elevated cables—communication and teamwork were key, and we made it across in the end (although it definitely took us awhile!).

(First year members of the Mount Holyoke field hockey team enjoy some fun in the sun during the team trip to the Connecticut River.)

We were lucky enough to sneak in two scrimmage days during our preseason. One was at Western Connecticut State University, where we played Western Connecticut and Manhattanville College. The other was at Amherst College, where we played Amherst, Williams and Union College. These scrimmages were a great opportunity to see which players worked well together on the field, and they also allowed the newer players to get some playing experience at the collegiate level before the start of the season.

The day before classes started, we took a trip to the Connecticut River, courtesy of Coach. We spent the afternoon swimming, jumping off a rope swing and playing frisbee. Mary Kate and Peggy even water-skied. After tiring ourselves out, we headed back to Coach's for pizza and then called it an early night (as most preseason nights were) so that everyone could rest up for classes the next morning.

This past week, the team has been settling into the new schedule of only one practice a day now that classes have begun. The two hours that we play together have become a release from the daily grind that everyone looks forward to. Hopefully all our hard work will pay off tomorrow when we face Simmons College at 1:00 p.m. on our home turf!